Government has teamed up with an entertainment company to host block parties in neighbourhoods blighted by gun violence.

Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Housing, David Burch, announced the partnership with Spanish Town Entertainment yesterday.

The initiative described by Spanish Town as a "pioneering approach to community reconciliation" has been christened Sounds of Sanctuary.

Eugene Dean, from the company, said: "The goal is to address and reverse the underlying causes of crime by engaging the entire community in a risk-free approach to peace-building."

Mr. Dean said dates for the block parties will be announced at future press conferences.

He explained: "At the heart of the Sounds strategy is an immediate commitment to create a broad-based culture of mutual respect, accountability and atonement in every family, neighbourhood and community organisation."

And he added: "We expect that our efforts will be accelerated greatly by having Government involved, and we look forward to continuing to involve the entire community in this peace building process. Our theme being 'unity in the community, fighting with peace, not for it'."

Sen. Burch described Spanish Town as a "grassroots" organisation that's worked within the community for more than 20 years.

"I applaud them for taking the initiative to develop this programme," he said. "The group will organise a sustained series of targeted block parties that cater to the music interests of young and old generally, but specifically in neighbourhoods that have been immediately impacted by gun crime. The goal is to build peace through a programme of celebrating the cultural arts."

Sen. Burch added that the Ministry will offer "financial support" to the initiative, but declined to comment on how much funding has been allocated.